Finally we had sufficient wind and the seas calmed into a predictable pattern such that we thought we could sail. Turned off the engine, looked at the knot log (water speed) and it said 3.5 knots. Good enough. Well maybe not ... the speed over ground was less than 0.10 knots and diminishing. Finally, still doing 3.5 knots through the water, we were doing 0.00 knots. That last decimal place means that we were doing less than 60 feet per hour. But if that weren't enough, our heading (the direction the boat is pointing) was set to west ... which the compass confirmed. Unfortunately, our direction over ground (forget the pointing, which direction are you actually moving?) was east. That means while we were pointed west with water rushing past us at 3.5 knots, we were actually moving east at less that 60 feet per hour. Gawd, is this going to be a long trip to Zihua.
Does one laugh or cry? Some of the crew (me) gave a primal scream and started laughing. As the day wore on, the current diminished and we were sailing about half the time. In the afternoons the breeze is sucked from the relatively cool sea to the heated land (sea breeze) and in the early morning hours the process is reversed ... the air leaves the cooled land for the relatively warmer sea (land breeze). In between we get to motor. But we have enough diesel to make Zihua easily.
But we took off for Zihua and should be there tomorrow (the 11th) morning. On the 12th there is a holiday where all the children dress up ... little girls in the traditional white blouses with scooped neck and long colorful skirt. Little boys dress up as Pancho Villa, paste-on moustache, sombrero, and all. Hope to get some pictures.but it is a much shorter journey on this go round. Only 3 days from Huatulco to Zihuatanejo so a hop, skip and jump. Today is Tuesday and we plan to depart on Thursday. We are soooo glad we got thru Nicaragua and the Tehuantepec when we did. We would still be waiting for a window. Today the Tehuantepec was blowing with hurricane force winds and seas to 27 feet. Yikes! Wonder how sailors dealt with places like the Tehuantepec before the wonders of weather faxes onboard. Don't think I would have been a candidate for this lifestyle in the "good old" days.
So Rich pulled us into the slip at Marina Chahu� in perfect form, first time in a marina in 11 months! I performed an extended water ceremony and played in the over spray. We are checked into Mexico and have the Mexican flag flying again. Doing tasks and getting around the area we time for morning and late afternoon because it is HOT here. Still getting used to warm weather again. Oh, Rich fixed the outboard and has been doing boat tasks like crazy. New engine oil, replaced fuel filters, adjusted rigging.... I did two provisioning runs today so we are almost set. So looking forward to seeing Peach and Dmitry in Zihuatanejo. They arrive Dec 23 so we'll be there a week to 10 days before - perfect timing!
Do have another batch of photos to go up and a blog to write about passages. I snapped some fantastic shots of sunsets and clouds that I'd like to share. The internet connections here in Huatulco are soooo slowww I'll wait for the zippy nets in Zihua. Take care all and write when you can.
Love to all from the yin side
----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com
Hi, yang here.
Well, we just had to turn off some of the instruments to contact a weather source on a frequency that causes the instruments to beep and cycle through displays and in some cases reset themselves.
Hope was attending to galley chores (galley slave that she is at times) and, after getting a confirmation that we've picked a good window to cross the Tehuantepec in a couple of days, I was doing some marlinspike work on a chafed line. When finished I looked up at the sails and made some small adjustments for the point of sail that we were on. Got all the telltales flying, picked up a little speed, and said, 'what a good little boy am I!'
Then I decided to check the course (we should have been sailing to a waypoint) when I noticed that our course was about 10 to 15 degrees off what we should be sailing. Then I noticed that the autopilot had become disengaged. Who knows for how long.
Whether a reaction to the radio frequency or an oversight by one one us, who knows. But there was ceilidh merrily sailing herself along on almost the right course, not complaining, not veering off, nor heading up, just nicely balanced with the wheel centered, unrestrained, and unmoving.
And who needs you guys, she was politely asking.
----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com
My own fault for not stocking it but the crew must mutiny. WE ARE OUT OF RUM! Ok. I'll live. But no more evening delicious drinks, no more splashes in morning beverage (I didn't say that), no more cooked banana deserts with happy rum flavoring. Sigh. Ok, I'm over it. [[secret yang editorial comment: no she's not!]] We still have a few beers, a glass or two of wine and all the delicious water we can drink. Life is actually pretty good onboard. We are motoring past the Gulfo de Fonseca about 20 miles off shore headed towards Mexico. Gulfo de Fonseca is chuck full of volcanic domes and more islands that I can name and has the unique claim of three different countries sharing a portion of it's shore: Nicaragua, Honduras, and El Salvador. I'll get Rich the magician to post the coordinates so you can Google map it. We skipped it heading South and thought to visit on this northbound journey but we have a possible window of opportunity to get across the Tehuantepec without getting our butts kicked so we are moving on towards Puerto Madero to stage for the crossing. I took some photos of the distant volcanos this morning and hope they'll turn out well. If so, I'll post them to the blog when we arrive in Huatulco in 4 to 7 days depending on the happy sailing goddess.
So, what I would like to do is siphon off excess wind on crazy gale type days and bank them for days when we just don't have quite enough wind to sail. Hmmm. I'm working on how to accomplish that miracle. It is the container that is giving me the most problems. In the meantime it looks like the wind has answered my prayers so I'll end here and up some more sail and rest our trusty dinosaur burner. Love and hugs to all of you from both of us.
from the yin side
ceilidh's location: 12.7768.33N, 088.084167W
Gulfo de Fonseca is approximately 35 nautical miles to the northeast.
----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com
OK, dust off your maps.google.com
We just arrived in Bahia Santa Elena, Costa Rica
10.922933N,085.791833W
and is this place ever beautiful ... not to mention that we have the whole place to ourselves at the moment! It's cloudy and overcast right now (great cloud formations), we have a light breeze, Hurricane Sergio is well off to the northwest and going to move north, we're in a great protected spot in any event, Hope has all the green she can absorb, and there are parrots and monkeys on the shore. Water temperature is a fraction under 85F.
We had to skip this anchorage on the way down last January because the Papagayo winds were blowing so hard, but this time they haven't started up and if they do, we're again in a protected spot. Have the stereo playing some Alistair Fraiser modern Celtic and feeling thoroughly centered and grounded.
Wish you could all be here, one by one to share the energy, it's that special.
----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com
Well, we've been thinking it over for many months now (since getting to Ecuador), and even now we re-think the decision occasionally.
We're headed back to California.
There are many factors that brought us to the decision. But having made it a little while ago, it felt right away (and still does) as if we were starting another, new adventure. The next chapter in our lives. The main reason, of course, is money. While we can maintain this lifestyle indefinitely on our current budget, we're tapping our emergency kitty every year. Most of the money has gone into parts, maintenance, and repairs on ceilidh ... without her partnership we wouldn't be here. Next biggest chunk has been our food (but when you think about it we have been eating excellently for about $300 a month). However, our current lifestyle has included only two inland trips to see the countries we've been anchored at and only one trip back to the US for Hope to see her daughters. They really miss her and she misses them. (And Adam and Tieg, believe it or not, I'm missing you too.) We don't have the money for travel and didn't plan on it as a budget item when we started out.
For us to go on to new cruising grounds would mean either going to the Caribbean or the South Pacific. Both are very expensive places, much more expensive than the Pacific Coast of Central America. And we've both decided that staying up a river estuary for 4-6 months each year is the pits. Dirty water. No jumping off the boat. No day sails or change of scenery. No snorkeling nearby. Staying up an estuary for 4-6 months each year is our only cruising option in Central/South America region unless we want to brave the major thunderstorms and squalls of Panama or Costa Rica. Every year a few boats get hit by lightning ... no thank you, NOT an option.
Another reason to go back now is that we can arrive with enough of a financial reserve to give us the necessary time to find new jobs and settle in.
So we're planning to go back and earn some money. I (yang) am 4 years from collecting social security payments. Social security alone would give us enough monthly income, but still no inland or US travel. In 4 years or so we'd be looking at retirement anyway unless I want to continue working until I drop dead at my computer workstation. Affording a retirement in the US requires continual working for us. Living on ceilidh while we were getting her ready to leave cost us about $40,000 to $50,000 per year. Living on her while cruising Central America costs us about $15,000 per year and we live well. A little more money for travel and a little more money for a monthly income and we can live quite well.
We don't want to give up ceilidh, she's become the third party in our relationship and our life. So we've started looking for a live-aboard slip in California. Not the easiest thing to do, but the best choice for us. We'll be back in Mexico in a week or two and plan to meet Peaches (Hope's youngest) in Zihuatanejo for the last week in December. A couple of anchorages and then meet friends Jay & Laurie in Puerto Vallarta in February. Then on to La Paz in March and a trip to the US in either March or April. Gotta get over that forthcoming culture shock at some point. Check out the job market too, dust off the resume, and see what clothing is required for aspiring job seekers. Also visit some marinas to introduce ourselves and make our plans real to them. Then do the Baja Bash in late Spring. Maybe toodle around the LA cruising areas and drop in at the Catalina rendezvous on Catalina Island in July. Then up to SF Bay in early to mid summer. Of course all the last dates are contingent on finding a live-aboard slip. Somebody has one on a certain date ... we're there.
We'll have been out almost 4 years but we feel like we're just getting the hang of this life-style. A little more money right now and we'd be hard pressed to decide to go through the canal or start a circumnavigation. Another posting later on what this life choice is like, now that we've got a handle on it.
love from us both,
yang & yin
s/v ceilidh
----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com
Hi, yang here. Well, we just completed our passage from the Galapagos to Costa Rica. Almost 900 miles in 6 days. The last day-and-a-half we had to motor across the ITCZ (inter-tropical convergence zone) and its associated doldrums and keep our speed down so we wouldn't arrive in the dead of night. Winds of a whopping 1/2 to 1 knot for 12 hours at a time. Then we'd be slammed by a 3 knot gust.
But the way up here was in 20-25 knots from behind. Ceilidh, with a theoretical maximum hull speed of just over 8 knots registered 9.20 on the knot log (through the water speed) and 9.6 SOG (speed over ground, and that was merely the max we saw once ... our GPS doesn't track max speeds).
Convection builds around the ITCZ, the more severe areas further north become low pressure systems, and of those a few become the Pacific hurricanes under the right conditions. But we just had rain with wind gusts to just under 40 knots to push us along even faster. Nothing slamming us over and ceilidh got a good washing. All the Ecuador dirt, volcano ash, and passage salt are now things of the past. Instead of squalls, think of them as sail-thru boat washes. So right now we're tucked in safely north of the ITCZ but still south of the hurricane formation zone.
The convection clouds under moonlight was a spectacular sight. Too bad we couldn't get any pictures, but I've tried to take long-exposure photos on a moving boat ... don't waste your time unless you like an image that crosses impressionistic art with acid rock-concert poster art. If the boat ride doesn't, the photo will make you seasick. Fortunately all the cells with lightning stayed far away where they appeared only as fantastic firework shows.
We plan to stay in northern Costa Rica for a couple of weeks visiting anchorages that we had to zip through coming south last January. Then take off again ... another posting in a couple of days with our plans.
Enjoy!
----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com
.. safely in Puerto Villamil, Isla Isabela, Galapagos, Ecuador
For those of you who remember the Google map search, we're anchored at
00.965333S, 090.962750W
We showed up without the official cruising permit and so were given 7 days in port even though we asked for 14 (first offer was 4). They can give as little as 3, we hoped for 7 coming over, so all works out. We might have gotten the 14 except there is another boat here who is way past any sort of welcome (by his own admission) and is not leaving (still, after almost 30 days in the islands) until some crew shows up in a few days. Plus we checked in at the Port Captain's with friends who did have the permit so a long stay for us might not have looked good in comparison. Whatever, we're happy, they're happy. The cruising permit allows a boat to stay for 30 days in any of 5 anchorages (each with towns). While the permit is free if you can find the right office of the Department of Defense in Quito or Guayaquil, agents charge US$50 to US$100 for their efforts to shepherd the process and take 30 days. You still have to pay check-in / check-out & anchoring fees at each port. The downside is that the Ecuadorian computer systems are now talking to each other so you also get to pay the US$100 per person park fee once you arrive here. Everyone who flies in or comes on a cruise ship has this fee tucked in somewhere. Cruising boats have been under the park fee radar in the past but things are tightening up, especially if you have the permit. If you want to go to other anchorages beyond the designated 5, you have to have a certified naturalist on board at a cost of up to US$250 per day.
So we decided just to show up and take our chances. Our 7 days for only $61, a regular check-in / check-out fee. We're happy: we have enough cash left over to take a tour up to one of the volcanoes (truck, horse, walk) or to take a panga over to where we can walk/snorkel in lava tubes and arches, both above and below the water. Besides, while sitting in the cockpit this morning with our tea, it just felt cool to say, "We're actually in the Galapagos!" It would have been good feelings even if we had to leave after a single day and Hope was the only one to have seen a penguin. Big smiles all around.
The delivery ship, Virgen de Monsaratte, was anchored next to us and was unloading supplies. I, personally, was glad to see a few cubic meters of beer being off-loaded into the waiting boats. Propane canisters, one shiny, new motorized scooter, all sorts of food stuffs, construction materials, and lots of stuff we couldn't see to identify in their bins. Unloading went on all day. Our friends (with the permit) said the same boat had just been at one of the other islands where they spent a day unloading as well.
The passage over was 732 nautical miles from the coast (not the straight-line distance, but the sailing distance). We used the engine only 13 hours (out of 6 days or 145 hours and that includes about a half day of drifting hove-to, waiting for the last sunrise), mostly for raising/dropping the anchor, charging the batteries and making water on windless, cloudy days, and the last morning coming into Puerto Villamil when the winds had died.
Since I'm the navigator I'm already thinking about the next passage up to Costa Rica, or Nicaragua, or even Mexico (if the winds are right .. a big if). It will be at least as long as this passage, but will be practically all down wind, a fun point of sail where we get to use the big purple and yellow asymmetrical spinnaker.
Well, enough for now. Project day. I'm sure Hope will have more postings about our stay here. Photos to be uploaded on the mainland.
love from us both,
yang
PS: OK (later in the day), now I've added refrigeration technician to my list of skills. The refrigerator has not been cooling as it should. A friend back in Bahia had the freon 134a and testing equipment but they weren't in such great shape and the can connector leaked. So I got my own set and am refilling/balancing the system. (Still, gotta thank the friend in Bahia ... his efforts did save the unit from getting worse.) Gotta love Central and South America: we could buy 15 pounds of freon 12 (like a small propane cylinder for your bar-b-que) which is illegal in the US. But lots of people would pay a small ransom for such a black market commodity. We just need small cans of freon 134a so we'll stick to that. In the US one even needs a professional certificate to buy any of the stuff. Here, it's off the shelf, come one, come all. In the US, per the documentation with the gauges, what I'm doing is grounds for a $25,000 fine per violation per day ... a violation being anyone with certification doing the work.
Penguin score update: 2nd day of the match, Hope 3, Rich 2, and all tied in seals.
----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com
We arrived at Isla Isabella, Galapagos, early this morning. We were about 2 hours short of making the anchorage in daylight last night so hove to about 20 miles out - started sailing towards the anchorage at 2am this morning. So. First sea life I saw? A penguin swimming around Ceilidh chasing a group of very small blue and silver fish. Wahoo! Rich was running the Friday SSB net and was ever so bummed to have missed our little friend. He swam around the swim step, looked up at me, dove and came back up. I swear he winked and grinned. No way was I going to run down for the camera so no photos yet. I do, however, promise that they will be forth coming.
The trop took us 6 full days and then, due to the lack of daylight, another night at sea and into the 7th morning. All in all the journey was enjoyable. Ceilidh remembers how to dance with the wind and waves (very impressionistic) and we remembered which lines do what and how to trim sails and navigate. Haven't talked with the authorities yet so don't know how long we'll be able to stay. Hope a week or two. Isabella is a more remote island and not such a mega tourist attraction. Most of the sea and land creatures can be viewed by walking along marked paths or snorkeling nearby. Ahhh. Looking forward to seeing all . There are multiple volcanos on Isabella and one which is active. Just heard from friends that we can rent horses and approach the active volcano and see lava flows and steam rising out of the ground.
OK. I just realized I am a bit tired and who knows what words will reach the blog with my brain only partially engaged. So all for now and more with coherent details after some rest and exploration.
Love to you all
from the yin side
----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com
Greetings all!
Just a quick note (because we're so jazzed) that we departed 'Camp Bahia' this morning after over 5 months at anchor. Got up at 5:15 AM (dark), raised anchor at 6:00 (sunrise but light since 5:50), underway at 6:15. We're in Caba Pasado about 20 miles north (30 as you sail). Had a safe and uneventful exit despite our worrying about conditions getting over the bar and into the ocean. Then had a wonderful 5 hour sail up here to Cabo Pasado. What a wonderful first day out.
We almost didn't leave. Turns out that Migracion and Capitania del Puerto don't have an agreed upon check out process. Migracion was closed for a holiday on Monday, our planned visit and provisioning run to the nearby 'big' town of Manta. So we had to delay out departure for one day to the VERY last high tide we could navigate and get to Migracion on Tuesday. When we show up, the lady asks for our zarpe (exit permission from the Capitania del Puerto) and wouldn't check us out without it. Other friends told us to do what we were doing (Migracion first) because that was what they did the week before. But then other cruisers apparently did it in the opposite order which seemed to set a precedent for our Migracion lady. (There's only one.) But between us explaining that this was our last chance (we couldn't go back to the Capitania and back to her without spending another $35 on a taxi ride, and besides the Capitania was saying to everyone, "Show up at 8-9 in the morning, not in the afternoon. Can't do zarpes in the afternoon" We explained that if we did what she wanted, we'd miss our tide on Thursday and have to wait for another month. So between our explanations and a helpful word from a taxi driver who knows us (driving another couple that day), she checked us out. It may have cost is an extra $4 as others paid $16 and we were asked for $20. But, hey, the service was supplied and now no one owes anyone else anything.
Then we dutifully show up at the Capitania del Puerto at 9 AM on Wednesday only to be told that he is out and in meetings until 2 in the afternoon. Only he can sign the zarpe, no delegation of signature authority here. That worked out with just a little rushing in the afternoon and juggling of the get-out-of-town-project schedule. Turns out that the Capitania just needs a copy of the checkout form from Migracion and doesn't care if your do it first or second, as long as they have that copy before you haul up anchor. And they don't check the date on it, just that you have one.
Then last night for the first time in a month the winds continued all night long which usually indicates sloppy conditions for going out. But that turned out to be just small waves and of no consequence. Better conditions than we had coming in. We were beginning to wonder if it was destined that we really leave in November.
Another fun item: friends told us to raise the anchor days early and re anchor. After being in the same spot for 5-6 months they have many horror stories of the bottom mud sucking down their anchor and other cruiser's and not letting it go without days of lifting pressure. So we did and a good thing. We get over our anchor, chain straight up and down, and the whole process stops. No forward movement on ceilidh, and the windlass stalls under the load. I had Hope speed up the rpm's bit by bit and after a few minutes the anchor came up with a 6-8 inch diameter log about 6 feet long neatly balanced in its claw. Glad not to have that stress the morning when we departed.
So after all that, we're out.
Right now we're planning to clean the bottom and chain tomorrow. Check the zincs and clean the thru-hulls. Then we're out of here, probably for the Galapagos. We may change our minds before halfway over and head north to Costa Rica. We really want to get to the Galapagos, but if we have to pound into seas and winds to get there, well, we're just not too enthused about it at the moment. We've been looking forward to a lovely downwind sail. But we'll give it a try and see if we can adapt. So we shall see. No promises.
love from us both.
the yang side.
----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com
typable. OK, this is a Spanish keyboard that´s acting like
a Spanish keyboard. Except that the spacebar only works with
the attached hammer (most of the time) and half the keys
have their letter label worn off. Not fun for us non-touch
typists.
OK, from the typhoid patient, the only downside to our trip.
We woke up one morning (the day we were going to Mindo & the
rain forests) and went to get some coffee before leaving for
the bus terminal. We thought we were very lucky in that the
street was deserted and there was no traffic in sight. You
need to understand that cars ABSOLUTELY have the right of
way. Even pedestrians in a crosswalk with the light have no
rights. We only had 100 meters to walk from our hostal to
the coffee shop. About 20 feet from the door of the coffee
shop two guys came around the corner. One approached me with
a hand out (I thought was begging), then grabbed my jacket
and said, "Money!" Then I noticed the knife/spike in his
other hand. The second guy went to Hope and tried to grab
her purse. She twisted down into a ball and started shouting
for help. I grabbed the wrist holding the knife. Then two
employees came out of the coffee shop and the one with a
broom hit the guy entangled with me and then both banditos
ran away.
We were so enjoying the empty street that we stopped being
aware. All´s well, we were blessed, we recognized the
outcome as a form of abundance. After this event, the stay
in Mindo was even ´mas tranquillo´.
Hope related my question on the history of the attitude of
the Catholic Church to women. The best endowed and
maintained church in Quito (even better that the bishop´s
cathedral) was one owned by the Jesuits who were quite proud
of how their altar included the founders of other
brotherhoods in the Church. And quite proud that EVERY
surface was covered with gold leaf. Being immersed in the
Spanish colonization of the new world for the last three
years and having read some fictionalized histories of the
new world, I´ve become quite interested in finding a
history of the church from apolitical perspective.
It´s also election time in Ecuador. Everyone we´ve
talked to looks at their decision as who do they want to rip
off the country for the next 5 years. No platforms matter,
no improvements expected. Decision: who do you want to get
rich at the country´s expense? Much like our own system,
just more up-front I think.
Note to my son Adam: Lots of VERY old Datsun pickup trucks,
but not a single 510. New Nissans, of course. A number of
original Minis running about and lots of old Ladas, the
Russian car that at a glance and a distance might be
mistaken for a 510 (to the uninformed).
Note to my son Tieg: Ran into an Aussie couple who said that
3-year work permits are relatively easy to come by now.
Might check out the Aussie embassy website if you still have
that dream.
Today we´re leaving for Otovalo, the best know artisan
market in Ecuador. Then back to Quito but only for the bus
back to ceilidh. Enough struggling with this keyboard. Love
to all!
_________________________________________
Check your Email accounts at MyEmail.com
Login from home, work, school. Anywhere!
four-strand line and other miscellany.
Yang here. We woke up this morning to find a 'severe' dusting of the boat. Turned out that it was volcanic ash from the volcano inland ... winds were just right. Don't have any news as to whether it was just a wind shift or a larger eruption. We'll get to the internet in a few days. (A few days to the internet ... doesn't that just boggle your sense of time and priorities? What's the rush? We can't see any lava headed this way.)
Update: Just talked to someone who went into shore today and the Ecuadorian papers are saying a significant eruption, one village buried up to the eaves of the homes, and 'much death'. Sorry to report.
We also needed to replace the polypropylene painter on the dinghy. Most standard (cheaper and low-tech) rope is made with three strands, often nylon, and all splicing instructions are for three strands. And polypropylene is really cheap rope ... but it does have the advantage of floating. But for some unknown reason here in Ecuador, their cheap polypropylene rope is made with four strands. So I can now add 'splicing four strand line' to my nautical resume. (For you land-lubbers, splicing is where one puts a loop at the end of a line by braiding the free end back into the line itself.)
Good news on the engine and transmission: Ran it with and without the prop shaft connected and no noises, no stopping. All sorts of rpm's. We dodged the bullet on that one. One good thing is that we got the new engine mounts installed. Much smoother and a little bit quieter. We continue to get projects done so that we can go inland in September to visit the Quito area. Then get ceilidh ready in October to head out on the high tides in early November.
August is the prime month for vacationers in Bahia. Lots of new people in town. On Saturday night they close the main street, rig up sound systems, and just have a party. One tradition is that ladies set up tables and sell cakes they've been making during the week.
One thing that takes getting used to here is having exact change. Hope went to the bank yesterday to get some change and they would only give her so many 5's, some 10's, and no 1's. Shop keepers have a hard time making change if you whip out a $20 bill and sometimes have to refuse the purchase. Of course, the ATMs dispense $20. Another thing is that most things are sold for $1. Want a dozen roses? $1. Want 3 roses? $1. Want 25 limes (limons)? $1 Want 5 limons? $1. Want 3 pineapples? $1. Want one pineapple? You guessed it.
And, yes, I seem to be completely recovered from my illness. Not as energetic as I recall, but then that was a matter of opinion. I was describing the illness as salmonella. Well, the official name for the bug that got into my system was salmonella typhii. So in the common parlance I had typhoid fever. Ooops. R-E-A-L-L-Y glad Hope got me to the doctor. So just a little correction there. Are you glad you're sharing this cruising experience 'virtually'? With a 3-day to 2-week incubation period, no way of telling where I got it.
There is a vendor in town each night. They sell a 'health' drink. If we're translating the Spanish correctly, it'll cure whatever ails you. They start by cutting an aloe vera pod in half and scraping out the clear goo into your glass. A little echinacea, goldenseal, yerba matte, honey, and possibly comfry and colt's foot (if Hope's Spanish was up to the translation). Water to top it off. Then using a knife to break down the aloe vera gob they stir it. Then they start pouring it from one glass to another to test the consistency. But the one glass ends up over the pourer's head with the other glass down on the cart. Five or six times, then some more knife stirring, then some more pouring/testing, then it's yours to slug down. The show alone is worth the 50-cents. My liver never felt better, how's yours?
Well enough for now. Enjoy!
----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com
With no fun being had by anyone. Rich became very ill and we waited 5 days for a doctor visit. On the 5th day (second day that his temperature rose to 104F) I insisted that we go to doctor and see what could be done. After the exam and laboratory tests were complete we had the answer. He had the typhus type of salmonella. He has now completed his 9 day course of cipro but is still weak and has a bit of an elevated temperature (99.5F). So, on Monday we'll check back with the doctor just to be sure there are no further pills/thrills/chills??? needed to complete the recovery. Poor Rich. He went 5 days with no food whatsoever and now is rather thin. I am working on feeding him up to previous stature, however.
On another rising note, Rich did manage to disconnect the transmission from the engine and it looks as though the engine it's self is in perfect working order. Just now completing the tests but it is chugging happily away. The transmission must be the problematic bit so perhaps Rich will feel up to taking it apart tomorrow. Progress in being made! Due to illness and small problems such as THE ENGINE! (yikes) we have still not done any inland travel. Hoping for a trip to the Quito highland areas in early September. Surly all will be sorted by then. In the meantime each day brings interesting experiences and the opportunity to study Spanish and play sarafina. Also many cruisers and town people to interact with when I step off Ceilidh.
Looking forward to a healthy boy soon and a properly functioning engine. I'll post again soon with an update.
Love to all
from the yin side
----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com
yo' ... yang here.
OK. So Hope hears rumors that there is another cruiser anchored in the Bay who plays the harp and has one aboard. (What: we're NOT unique?) She discovers her identity, Gayle, and they make arrangements to get together one Sunday afternoon to play for each other, trade tips, techniques, and generally just share in the joy that only harpists understand. (Actually, anyone listening understands the joy as well.)
A local woman, Elizabeth, hears of their plans and indicates that she'd love to be able to hear them practice. So they pick a time, 2 pm, and Gayle goes off to do her thing and Hope goes off to do hers. Later that week, we all discover that the World Cup Final Game is being played from 1pm - 3pm so a postponement is made to the harp practice time but the word doesn't get around to everyone. So when they start playing, Elizabeth comes up and explains that she can't stay any longer, but would they like to come to her establishment that night and play for her and her customers? Turns out she owns the Arena Bar and Pizzeria, a nice place for locals and cruisers, with great food and great prices. So Gayle accepts for her and Hope. Actually, Elizabeth is that sort of person who won't take no (nor even a maybe) as an answer and you feel guilty about even trying to say anything except yes. Infectious smile and energy.
Initially, I'm involved because as the official 'Senor Burro' of ceilidh, I'm needed to schlep the harp from ceilidh, across the water, and into town. (I get to listen as reimbursement.) I brought along my Native American flute to play when they were talking and deciding on music. Gayle was able to figure out chords on the harp to play along with me while I was playing, so now Hope can play with me back on ceilidh. (To those musicians out there, the flute is in G minor, not the easiest thing to match on a C major harp with sharping levers for D and G major keys only.) So Hope plays the bahrain (drum) for some of my playing and next thing I know, I'm included in the performance as well.
So we get there around 8 o'clock on a Sunday night. Now Gayle is a professionally trained singer who uses the harp to accompany herself so Hope and I eagerly agree to let her carry the weight of the 'show'. Can we all say 'knock out voice'? Good, I thought we could. So Gayle starts with about 6 songs, then Hope plays some, then 6 more by Gayle, then Hope, then me on flute with harp and drum accompaniment, then Gayle wrapping up. We each got a glass of wine as a treat on the house, so that makes it a professional gig, right?
Anyway, a number of our friends from the cruising community showed up. Elizabeth had a big contingent of her family there (husband or ex-husband we didn't inquire, daughter, granddaughter, and others). And some local customers even stayed for the performance. Business was good, the place was packed, people applauded just a bit more than they politely needed to, and the word afterwards was it was fun and 'they'll' be back for the next performance.
And we had fun. Hope would have 'disappeared' but between Gayle, Elizabeth, and me, she couldn't. And afterwards we were all glad we came and played. Gayle is talking up another gig for us at the cruiser hangout, Puerto Amistad, and we're sure we haven't seen the last of Elizabeth. Plus we have some other friends in the community who missed the first performance and want to see any others.
So we'll practice some more and look forward to the next gig.
----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com
.. yang side here.
We took a side trip to a town called Montecristi about 50 or so miles from here. Montecristi is a small tourist town at the bottom of a hill (curiously named Montecristi before there was a town). And what attracts the tourists? It's a center for Panama hat manufacture and sales.
Real, handmade, Panama hats.
Panama hats first gained international fame when they became the unofficial/official hat of the workers and especially the management building the Panama Canal. But even more curiously, the designation Panama hat has nothing to do with the canal or the country. And they have always been made in Ecuador. Even before the US created the country Panama by slicing off a section of Columbia (there's a story for another blog), even before the money was assembled to build the canal (which was well before Columbia got tough on canal building negotiations after France's failure which necessitated a new and pro-US country), Ecuador was making Panama hats. How? Panama hats are made from fibers of the Panama palm. (Clever, huh?) Slit the leaves and stems down to individual, very tough, very flexible, very thin fibers, and you have something to weave with.
True Panama hats of fine to extra-fine designation, come with a box about a foot long and an inch square on the inside. With a true Panama hat, you can roll it into a cylinder (crown at one end brim at the other), store it in the box, and then, when you want to wear it, take it out and it will resume its normal shape. The original ready-to-wear, wrinkle-free. Plus a fine to extra-fine hat will hold water ... the outside won't get wet. Or conversely, your head stays dry in the rain. Perfect for working on canals.
Some cruisers had already visited Montecristi and mentioned a specific shop. Turns out that every shop has hand-made Panama hats for sale. Hope bought a less-than-fine hat with a wide brim and a rounded crown. Quite stylish ... not all Panama hats are made for men's fashion. Size is adjustable by simply slipping on an adjustable hat band and the woven material will deform to a head size (somewhat) without deforming the shape (hardly noticeable usually). Worked for Hope's hat. They originally wanted $12 but with the negotiational skills of our taxi driver, Giovanni, we got it for $8. He was working on $5, but they weren't going for it.
I didn't see anything I really liked so the store owners took us to another store where they had some extra-fine hats. The original asking price was $85, we'd gotten them down to $35, and they probably would have taken $30 if we whipped out the cash. But again, nothing was 'just right' so I passed. On the way out of town, there were many other places with more options so I may go back, or wait until we're in south-central Ecuador around a town called Cuenca which is another center of hat manufacture.
These probably weren't true extra fine hats ... the quality levels being inflated and the pricing not matching. We'd heard of a cable TV special on the making of Panama hats. Apparently there are only two guys left in this region who still weave true, extra-fine hats. It takes them 6 months per hat and they get about $50. All their products end up in New York boutiques where they retail around $10,000 give or take a couple of thou. Unfortunately, these guys are getting old and are going blind. They lean on a post to work over their weaving mold from above and their chests are deformed with the indentation of the leaning post. It's been the only work they've done since childhood. They weave to a round mold and then the round crown is pounded with a wooden hammer on molds of different shapes.
In other, late-breaking news, our main engine seized up last week. The good news is that it is some problem either with the valves or with the fuel system. No clunking, banging, or grinding noises. Work I can do. We won't need a major or complete overhaul. Spanish classes are progressing and we're even having discussions with locals. People are very friendly and consider Americans generally rude because we don't say 'Ola! Como usta?' very much. We tend to focus on the task at hand and don't realize that market day is supposed to be just that: a whole day for about an hour's worth of shopping. Greeting friends, catching up, and making new friends are part of every task.
Enough for now. We're here through sometime in October, then to the Galapagos, then back up to Panama in November sometime.
----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com
First a long philosophical (of sorts) discussion ... what else would you expect from the yang side?
At the core of it all, you need to understand that when we left the US, several cultural differences were encountered, but ours were encountered onboard, not on shore. We didn't even recognize the subtle differences for years. And then too, the subliminal training stayed with us for over a year ... seeing the world and our role in it the way we were trained. But we also recognized that these changes work 'here' on ceilidh but would not stay with us if we returned to America. They couldn't stay with us: different game with different rules.
Biggest difference: there is no mass media where we are. We don't have the advertising industry incessantly telling us to buy more, buy faster. We don't have the same industry telling us what the perfect lifestyle would be through TV or movie role models: more gadgets, better car, faster computer/internet, and so on. The psychological drivers creating greed and consumption have been (slowly) stripped away. Entertainment is self-generated or shared with friends. Simply being quiet and feeling/experiencing the environment is an enjoyable activity.
We also have limited choices: shopping is not a recreational activity in the same sense it is in America. Shopping for price rarely results in a savings of more than a few cents for an hour's work. You deal with the people you come to like. Eventually the prices come down. Shopping for variety is possible only in the larger towns (rarely encountered in our favored areas) and even then variety is nothing like in America. How many brands, types, formulations of sausage (meat, vegetarian, and vegan) can you find among all the supermarkets (individually and collectively), speciality gourmet shops, and meat markets in a convenient driving distance? We're lucky to find 6-10 TOTAL in an entire town (even the big ones) and that would take over a couple of hours of walking or several hours of bussing. Usually there is one meat market with two types: regular and spicy. Sometimes there is no sausage in a town: buy the whole cuts of meat then grind and blend your own that day. Limited choices, go with the flow. It's delicious!
The same lack of mass media has caused us to re-evaluate our usage and recycling practices. Not of trash, but of possessions. When outfitting ceilidh (especially while I was still working), we would just buy a new replacement, get exactly what we needed ... new. Now we mend, repair, make do. I even clean bolts and nuts and save them for reuse. Clothes are pushed beyond all normal standards in America because each has become (in its way) a favorite. If at all possible, I figure out a way to repair something with what I have on hand, not get a new piece of equipment like I did in America. In that way, ceilidh is getting to be (if you know where to look) more & more like a cruising boat. That 'temporary' fix will last for ten years so why lust after a whole new component? It would be much easier and faster to spend money, but why?
The one thing we have in excess is time. Learning, practising, then doing things ourselves that would be economically unjustified to employed Americans ("My time is worth more than that!"). Most cruisers have more disposable income than we do. So we have more time to 'spend' than we do money. So we spend more time on what we do than we spend money on the activity or project. Example, walking instead of busses, busses instead of taxis, taxis instead of car rentals (never a car rental).
One noticeable difference when no one is around: Hope and I simply enjoy each other (almost all of the time). Some have noted (exclaimed!) that this means we are together 24x7. I will sit and do nothing but listen to her play her harp. We will sit together touching & reading. We work together, shop together, explore together, and still it seems like 24x7 isn't enough (most of the time).
Another noticeable difference is that our home is in a constant state of decay (saltwater) and breakage (extreme usage ... sailing and passage-making). So no matter whether we are in a posh marina or on the hook in a remote anchorage, there is maintenance to do from polishing (to keep a finish that resists saltwater corrosion), to routine servicing (there are few qualified workers to do what is needed even if we had the money), to overhauling major components. You've got to like it (maintenance), be challenged by it, and be up to it, or it becomes a reason to quit.
So what did we do today: Up at 6:30 for coffee and a snack for Hope and pack for showers on shore. Check state of batteries, any weird noises heard during night. 7:00, put the dinghy in the water and get the outboard on (put away each night to lessen growth on the submerged surfaces). 7:15 leave for shore, tie up, drop things off at Puerto Amistad (local cruiser facility). 7:30, start walking around the point to the other side of town with a friend. Meet other friends on the walk (old friends new to town) and chat for awhile to catch up on adventures, answer their questions since we've been here longer. Usually 8:30 (but today 8:45) get back to Puerto Amistad for showers. 9:00-9:15 get back on ceilidh for breakfast (& dishes, & make bed, & straighten up, & etc), listen to the SSB radio net (catch up on friends not here) & weather, hang up exercise duds & towels. 9:45 go back (most weekdays) for Spanish class from 10:00-11:00. 11:00-2:00, in-town chores. Today: internet (15 min walk from class) and some groceries (15 min from internet) (someone needed copies of tax forms, we needed to make a VISA payment, etc). Walk downtown to mercado for fresh food (veggies, meat, bread, all little specialty shops spread out over a few blocks). Today we walked to the other end of town to find the one 'supermarket' in town. Bought a few things but decided it was too pricey for routine shopping, it's cheaper to eat out than shop there. Last Thursday we had to find the DHL office (& FedEx to compare prices & times) to mail a post office form & copies of IDs to our new mail forwarding service (took11-3, getting them notarized was another hour). Meet friends in the street, both cruisers and locals. Get back to ceilidh, put things away. Yesterday we had water jugs waiting for us to pour in the tanks (can't make water here). 2:00-5:00 or sometimes right after class 'til done: chores on ceilidh. The water line needed cleaning (without getting in the water) over the weekend. Other days: replace or repair used components, make repairs of things damaged in getting here (example, I'm having to re-engineer how the rudder post is held in place at the top). Hope has laundry that we hang around ceilidh on some sunny days. We're going to be making repairs to the sails, new dinghy chaps, I cleaned out the anchor locker (long overdue), etc ... our list runs to dozens of items not all of which we will complete here. We'll need to search out a coffin maker (apparently the only woodworkers in town) that can also make table tops. 5:00 or so have a 'delicious drink' (today Pisco sours) and plan dinner, spend some time together, just focused on each other. 7:00 do Spanish home work. 8:00 read & put dinghy away (outboard off & locked on stern rail, dinghy hanging & secured to lifelines). 9:00-9:30 turn in for the night.
Other possible activities that sneak in routinely: Local travel: Saturday we took a ferry/bus trip to another town up the coast that lasted from after the net (10ish) 'til 4:00 ... 3 hours in the resort town, 3 hours on ferries and busses looking at the scenery. Optional activities: Naps occasionally sneak in there (siestas work!). Dinners with or at friends' once in awhile. Happy hour with friends at Puerto Amistad once in awhile to trade in-land travel information or catch up on old/recent times. So far on two days ... 2-3 hours watching the Ecuador world cup team and celebrate briefly with the locals, they go on for hours, we go back to boat projects. We run one of the SSB cruiser nets on Friday morning and have been helping out on an unofficial one at 5pm each evening for others making the passage to here (often the longest any of us have made). Research (mostly Hope) & talk about land trips to Quito & Mindo, then Cuenca & Machu Picchu. Hope has been cat sitting for friends traveling inland for the past 10 days, two trips a day and time at their boat. I've been going with her some of the time. Write emails (Hello!) and blog postings. Edit, upload, and label photos. Financial tracking (where does that little amount of money get to?). Planning & dreaming where we'd like to go next in ceilidh: this involves researching & understanding weather patterns for the planned passage time, environment, currents, friendliness of local officials, what-if (something goes wrong) scenarios, provisioning needs (& availability on the other end), figuring out what projects have to be completed for such a passage ... obviously not just jumping in the car & driving down the coast. Trying to track down info on unidentified, broken parts not available outside the US. Searching out sources locally for broken bits or specialized services. Practice & fiddle with our musical instruments. Track down & eliminate this or that computer glitch. And so on.
So we feel quite occupied in mind and body and heart.
love from the three of us,
yang & yin
s/v ceilidh
Bahia de Caraquez, Ecuador
----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com
After installing the GPS/Chartplotter back in San Francisco in 2003, I never did reset the trip log (accumulated miles) to zero. Too many other things to do (like learn how to use a GPS/Chartplotter let alone navigate in more traditional ways). But yesterday I had some time and I've been curious: roughly how many miles have Hope & I sailed since leaving San Francisco in September of 2003?
When we knew that we were going to head to Central America and probably Ecuador, I meant to reset the trip log up at our northernmost point in the Sea of Cortez. Unfortunately, it didn't get done until a couple of hundred miles later in La Paz. But going back and gauging the mileage along the coast, I've come up with a total of at least 11,000 nautical miles (nm). For you land lubbers, that's roughly 12,500 miles or just over 20,000 kilometers. And it's probably more because I can't begin to add up the back-and-forths between islands and anchorages, circles we've made, and so on. As an example of that (this last passage), the straight-line distance between Panama and Ecuador is around 600 nm. Our GPS recorded that we actually sailed 935 (way out to the west then back again to have sailing angles on the winds from the south) to cover the straight-line passage of 600 nm. And in calculating the 11,000 nm I was using straight-line distances along coasts for about 60% of our travels.
The funny thing now (to us) is that the first hop out of San Francisco Bay around the corner to Half Moon Bay was about 50-60 miles. Then down to Santa Cruz was about the same again. But they were our first hops and they seem H-U-G-E ! Two weeks ago, this 900 mile passage seemed huge: now we feel we can plan 1000 miles at a time with no problem. Which will be helpful because when we leave here (Bahia de Caraquez, Ecuador) we'll be heading due west to the Galapagos, another 600 nm. But this times the winds should still be southerly so our actual miles should be almost exactly the 600 of the straightline distance.
OK, time to catch up on some waypoints to look up on Google Maps:
Bahia de Caraquez, Ecuador: 00.609217S, 080.420633W (Note the 'S' for a change, and we'll be here for a few months so no new ones for awhile)
Balboa, Panama: 08.908300N, 079.525333W (Zoom out or pan right to find the Panama Canal to the east ... should be interesting)
Las Perlas: 08.426983N, 078.854717W (Zoom out a little: this is just one place we stopped in this bunch of islands)
Bahia Banao: 07.425700N, 080.193800W (Zoom out a little to see the point to the East ... Punta Mala [Bad Point] ... Banao is the hidey-hole to wait for decent weather to get around the well-named Punta Mala)
Isla Coiba: 07.623483N, 080.726000W (Nice place but with the shark stories from Hope)
Isla Parida: 07.10167N, 082.367483W (First stop after leaving Costa Rica ... want to get back to 'western Panama')
Golfito, Costa Rica: 08.619633N, 083.153300W (Last stop & check out point for Costa Rica)
Isla del Cano: 08.713850N, 083.887083W (Best snorkeling story since leaving Mexico)
Bahia Drake: 08.697167N, 083.668400W (Panga trip into the mangroves .. search to the north for the river entrance ... and our own inflatable kayak trip up a stream on the point of land to the west of where we anchored)
Think that takes us back awhile. And, oh yeah: water does swirl in the opposite direction here when going down a drain!
----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com
